Automatic Writing
The practice known as automatic writing took numerous forms in Victorian spiritualism. Within the seance itself, it typically involved a medium channeling the words of a spirit in written form. This might involve scrawling messages on a piece paper in a trance state. Alternatively, the medium might cause writing to appear on a previously blank page or slate. In other forms of automatic writing, a person with mediumistic abilities might write messages, poems, letters, or even music in privacy, claiming to be the mere vessel transcribing words from spirits. Spiritualists and others sometimes employed tools to channel spirits through writing, such as the planchette pictured below. In each case, the words themselves were said to come from beyond the veil.
“Bangs Williams Insulated Planchette!”, planchette in original box, 1868, Box: 38, Folder: 1. Michael McDowell Death Collection, AS10. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections.
A precursor to the Ouija Board, the planchette was used as an automatic writing tool. As with the Ouija Board, two or more users would place their hands on the instrument and allow it to move of its own accord. In fact, the wooden triangle used in Ouija is also known as a "planchette." This planchette is upside down. To use: turn it over on top of a sheet of paper and insert the pencil into the hole at the bottom. Place your fingers on it and allow it to roll on the wheels, writing out messages. The writing planchette is much larger than that used in the Ouija board, often 5-6 inches in length.
“Bangs Williams Insulated Planchette
Detail
Automatic Writing of Margaretta Fox Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism records, 1884-1922, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Box 1, Folder 73.
This image depicts a sample of automatic writing by medium Margaretta Fox – one of the founders of spiritualism. In this case, Fox scribbled the words backwards with her left hand – a practice known as “mirror writing.” A closer look at Fox’s writing reveals the initials H.S., suggesting that Fox was dictating a message from Henry Seybert. Seybert was a well-known scholar in Philadelphia and a strong believer in spiritualism. At his death, he bequeathed a fund to the University of Pennsylvania to form a commission to investigate spiritualist phenomena. The Seybert Commission, as it became known, investigated numerous mediums, including Fox, but ultimately rejected spiritualists’ claims.
Slate used by Slade, 1887. Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism records, 1884-1922, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Box 4, Folders 235-237.
The Seybert Commission conducted one of their most extensive investigations into medium Henry Slade. Slade was the most famous slate-writing medium of the era. In a typical Slade séance, he displayed a blank slate to the sitters, the sound of writing was heard, and the slate emerged with messages from beyond. Slade’s hands would be bound during this performance, and sometimes the slate would be part of a pair with hinges and locked shut.
